Stimulating. What's the best size for a cooling fan? Simple. The fan size should ideally match the size of the object to be cooled. If I recall correctly, the fans on chillers for big buildings are the size of the chiller. My opinion? never thought about it from this angle but I'm glad you and other...

Seeing where the air flows rather than guessing with countless tests would be so informative but the side effects/residuals + the need for some kind of window have stopped me from persuing it. I wonder if any of the pc equipment manufacturers do it.

A further step towards silence could be to remove the lower chamber fan, close off the air vents by the psu (and seal any other air leaks) causing the psu to draw from the front vent. I haven't tried this but others on this forum have. Your mileage will vary depending on the psu. The drive will prob...

wd750aaks - nice. I read that it's a hair away from raptor speeds. The 1tb version is coming "soon". I wouldn't feel the need for a separate boot drive. However, I would have 3-4 partitions. If a current drive is being replaced, it could be moved to an external enclosure for backups - Antec MX-1 is ...

All might not be lost - it's probably starved for ram - might find a cheap upgrade. I have a 500mhz p3 pc with w2k and 384mb ram. It's a functional web browser.

An alternative is linux. I hear that older machines (as far back as 386) operate quite acceptably with older distros.

Do you mean that I should get the AAKS version? Yes - 250ks is 'old' tech. I have experience with the 250ks, 320aaks and 500aaks. Testing in the same pc one at a time, the 320aaks temp is 35-39c. The 250ks is 40-42 and is nominally louder than 320 (and 500). Among other things, what makes the aa's ...

Corsair 520 at buy.com for price - have had trouble with Corsair rebate redemption.

Ditto on the Spinpoint 500gb.

Another video alternative: ASUS 1950pro (very quiet at idle) if you don't require 8800 power or DX10 - not as media capable as 2600xt.

Looks like a nice setup. With the 690G + ati gpu, 3+ monitors can be used simultaneously (surroundview). On the other hand, nvidia mb's seem to have more settled drivers making for an easier install. In general, the higher the nForce # the more heat generated requiring more cooling/noise. You need t...

The wd250ks runs hotter than the quieter wd_aa's. The sweet spot is currently at 0.20-0.22/gb - wd320aaks or samsung spinpoint 400gb for 80-85usd are reasonably cool and quiet. If you're on a budget (and even if not), you might consider downsizing to a uATX mb/case. There's some nice stuff out there...

There could be partition table issues with the upgraded drive. The first release of w2k only recognizes the first 128gb on a drive (and merrily truncates any existing partitions past that). If this is a legit copy of w2k, it would be worth contacting MS for a disk replacement. They might even have o...

I have a NetGear GS108 8 port gb switch that claims to support jumbo packets although I haven't tested it. I've been using it for a few months and since the transfer speed is so much better than 100mb I haven't felt the need to tweak it. I don't know the exact transfer speed (how did you determine t...

I had a good experience the one time I had a problem with an Antec product. I emailed them with my diagnosis and solution. They didn't question it. The part arrived a few days later and the problem was resolved. Refreshing.

It's pretty slick that you can have multiple usb mice attached and active simultaneously - comes in handy a few times a year. Recently was helping a mechanic friend download engine info from a unit on his race car. It had a serial to usb converter to connect to his laptop usb port. It didn't work. L...

9v 1300rpm YL is roughly equivalent to 12v 1000rpm Nexus.

An "old" MSI Diamond Plus runs ~48 in a LianLi 1100 with a rear 120mm Nexus and ~45 with an Antec TriCool on medium (too noisy). The little fan chipset screams. Other than some creative rigging with an additional fan, I don't think there's much you can do with the hot nForce4 technology.

I talked with a couple of guys in the motherboard business and they all say that RMA is a big problem I wonder if this is why Newegg has gotten so unfriendly about RMAs. It's far and above the best online retailer I've found in spite of this (if you're willing to spend a lot of time deciphering the...

Jordan wrote:was very pleased the the door opens a full 180 degrees

Me too. I don't ever see a problem with 180 but 270 seems to have a limited lifespan.

Don't have experience with the Noctua but there have been some glowing reviews of them and I'm sure it would have come out if there is a problem with the rpm sensor. All I can suggest is the obvious - inspect the wiring for damage, try it on a different fan header or another MB and/or try another fa...

CPUfan on an ASUS M2NSLI is reported as 1350000 and a divider max of 20 doesn't really help. This MB has an IT8712F super IO controller - one that SpeedFan doesn't do well with. It does just fine on an abit nfm2 though - it has a Winbond W83627EHF. The temps seem to be reported correctly on all MBs....

a bit of corporate smoke and mirrors there So it appears that there have been (generously speaking) liberties taken in the marketing speak to meet the ATX12V 2.x and EPS12V specs. This doesn't make me less satisfied with my HX520 but it makes me wonder what other Corsair claims should be questioned...

I purchased a 182SE about a month ago (with free shipping and a "free" 320MB Seagate, it ended up cheaper than the 180). I'm very impressed by the engineering effort. Like others though, I have some "issues" with the case but will save most for another time. What I'm surprised about is that nobody h...

This states that they both have three rails and we don't need to be concerned about one getting overloaded as another will be used automatically.

why did this site give highest rating to Noctua for case-cooling? Because the site admin's brother-in-law owns stock in Noctua...just kidding. This represents exhaustive testing for the best (sound + airflow) 120mm fan. My experience with several brands agrees with it. There are other articles/post...

Just run speedfan in administrator mode, Thanks, I had the same problem with Vista32 on a Gigabyte 965gm-s2. This enabled Speedfan HD reporting. This method didn't keep EasyTune5 (the Gigabyte version of ASUS PCProbe) from crashing after a while though. OT: Except for Areo (very impressive), it see...

I had a similar configuration - MSI Diamond Plus, 8800gtx, 520hx. Consumption never rose above ~300w reported by a kill-a-watt. The 620 is not needed except maybe with two hungry GPUs although it won't hurt anything except your wallet. Unless you're trying to satisfy some curiosity, I wouldn't touch...

DOes that make sense? It does to me but in this area some things that seem intuitively correct turn out not to be. I have a feeling something is wrong....somewhere I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth... As long as other components aren't increasing in temperature then this is a gift. I've rea...

I've had the same experience - added more fan speed or more fans thinking this can only be good for cooling. I believe the answer is that some configurations can create more turbulence than good airflow. Of course, the goal is to bring cool air into the case, have it flow over any hot components and...

jaganath wrote:using a 92mm fan in horizontal position quite rare, only if it's HTPC w/ down-blowing HS or fanswap of PSU w/ 92mm on bottom, also now rare.

Maybe not in "standard" places. At one point, I had an up-facing 92mm fan attached to the bottom of a HD. It wasn't pretty but was effective and very quiet.

Might want to stay away from sleeve bearing fans for longevity if intended usage is the horizontal position. Unfortunately, this includes the Nexus - my favorite. I've compared it to the Minebea 92mm 2100rpm version and at the same rpm the Scythe moves less air and is slightly louder (all pretty sub...

jaganath wrote:assuming you weren't being sarcastic

Absolutely no sarcasm but maybe a little cynicism since I was thinking the same as you. I think they should be dealt with severely - no less than a vandal, mugger or thief that breaks into your house.